As much as Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton said the 2025 NFL Draft was a stick and pick or trade down kind of class, you can't hide from NFL insider Ian Rapoport. The Broncos were rumored in the lead-up to the draft to be one of the most interested and possibly even aggressive teams in pursuing a trade up the board.
Many assumed if the Broncos traded up it would either be for Ashton Jeanty or a wide receiver. Rapoport himself speculated the Broncos' pre-draft trade interest could be Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden, though that turned out to be an inaccurate take because the Broncos passed on Golden with the 20th overall pick.
Rap Sheet's latest report heavily implies the Broncos were not after Jeanty or Golden, or either of those positions at all. Instead, they stopped calling teams about trading up as soon as the Chicago Bears took Colston Loveland off the board with the 10th overall pick.
Broncos reportedly had significant interest in Colston Loveland in 2025 Draft
"Before the draft I'm starting to hear that a couple of teams are really actively trying to trade up..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 28, 2025
I heard that the Texans and Broncos were..
The Bears take Colston Loveland at 10 and then a bunch of calls stop" ~ @RapSheet #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/DRFo3ZOzez
This is a fascinating report because the Broncos were also projected to trade up for Loveland in Daniel Jeremiah's final 2025 NFL Mock Draft over at NFL Network. Very interesting, indeed.
As they say, where there's smoke, there's fire.
After the Broncos signed Evan Engram in 2025 NFL Free Agency, it was reported that tight end was all but off the table for the team in the 1st round of the draft. But that was just a smokescreen. There were also some last minute rumors of teams having concerns about Loveland and a shoulder injury. Perhaps that was just an attempt to get him to fall down the board a little further.
Loveland was a bit of a surprise pick to the Chicago Bears and while he wasn't the consensus top tight end in the draft, he might be a bit more translatable to the NFL than Tyler Warren, at least right away. Loveland can play all over the offensive formation and has more experience playing in-line and excelling at the more traditional tight end roles, whereas Warren was a weapon used in a variety of ways at Penn State.
Both are fine players, but it wouldn't be surprising to find out that most NFL teams had Loveland graded higher overall.
The Broncos were one of the teams apparently after him, and how interesting would it have been for this team to have been operating with more limited NFL Draft capital over the weekend after moving up for Loveland?
If we think the fan base is split now, just imagine the Broncos trading up assets for a tight end.